After Massive Casualties, Russia's Mercenary Wagner Group Lowers Recruiting Standards

Wait. The Wagner Group had recruiting standards?

But seriously, the Wagner Group mercenaries who have largely replaced professional Russian soldiers on the battlefield in Ukraine due to casualties and recruiting failures are now themselves having to take older, less experienced or less physically fit recruits because of its own casualties. The implication is that the Russian manpower shortages are getting worse rather than better. JL 

Isabel Van Brugen reports in Newsweek, image Efrem Lukatsky, AP:

The British defense ministry noted that Russia has used Wagner to reinforce front-line forces and to "mitigate manning shortfalls and casualties. "Wagner are lowering recruitment standards, hiring convicts and formerly blacklisted individuals. Very limited training is made available to new recruits, adding that this will highly likely impact on the operational effectiveness of the group. Lowering its recruiting standards "will reduce its value as a prop to the regular Russian forces,"

The notorious Russian military company Wagner Group is lowering its recruiting standards after heavy losses sustained in the war against Ukraine, the U.K.'s defense ministry said Monday.

In an intelligence update, the British defense ministry noted that Russia has used Wagner to reinforce front-line forces and to "mitigate manning shortfalls and casualties."

The mercenary group has "almost certainly" played a central role in recent fighting, including the capture of Popasna and Lysyschansk in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region, where the war is currently focused, as Russia attempts to seize the Luhansk and Donetsk regions in full, the ministry said."Wagner are lowering recruitment standards, hiring convicts and formerly blacklisted individuals. Very limited training is made available to new recruits," it said, adding that this will highly likely impact on the future operational effectiveness of the group.

 

Lowering its recruiting standards "will reduce its value as a prop to the regular Russian forces," Britain's defense ministry noted. Britain is a vocal supporter of Ukraine and has sent military equipment to help its military against Russia's forces. The ministry's intelligence update did not say where it got its information about Wagner Group.

Investigative media outlet Important Stories found Russian prisoners in St. Petersburg are being offered freedom and money if they participate in the war.

Relatives of prisoners serving sentences in the city told the publication that the Wagner Group is offering 200,000 rubles ($3,500) and an amnesty, for six months of "voluntary" service in the Donbas region—if the prisoners return alive.